


Chocobo Road Trip!

by TheDarkestDandelion



Series: The Daemon, the Soldier and a Stolen Bio-Weapon AU [39]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ardyn and Prompto do, Baby Prompto Argentum, Chocobos, Cor doesn't want a pet, Day At The Beach, Early Mornings, Fluff, Good Ardyn Izunia, Humor, Love, Multi, Parent Ardyn Izunia, Parent Cor Leonis, Prompto Argentum is a Ray of Sunshine, Road Trips, Surprises, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vacation, car journeys, happy fic, joy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-08-20 07:27:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20224081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestDandelion/pseuds/TheDarkestDandelion
Summary: Prompto wants to see a Chocobo. Ardyn wants Cor to spend more time with him and Prom. Cor just needs a break from work.What is the best way to solve all their problems? Why going on a family road trip of course!





	1. Family Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually like working on more than two stories at once, but I just needed to write this one. 
> 
> So please enjoy this story that is just full of family fluff!!!!

Prompto waddled towards his dada who was sitting at the table entertaining himself with a crossword. The 5-year-old had been in his room for the past half an hour playing with his toys and had finally decided that he had to ask his dada something.

He pulled on Ardyn’s coat to get his attention. “Dada? Can I please have a Chocobo?”

Hearing his son’s voice, Ardyn let a very wide smile spread across his face. He put down his pen and picked Prom off of the ground and sat him on the table. “A Chocobo, my dear? Oh, do you mean Charlie? Here you are my darling I forgot I had him.”

Ardyn got the toy out of his armiger and handed it to Prom, but the golden-haired boy didn’t want his toy.

“No. A real Chocobo.”

“Charlie is a real Chocobo, see. ‘squawk’.” Ardyn mimicked the bird’s voice as he bopped Prom on the nose with the toy’s beak. 

“Dada, he’s not real. He’s a toy.” Prom laughed, grabbing on to his toy giving it a hug.

“Alright, then smarty pants. I am afraid I can’t give you a real Chocobo.”

“Why?”

“Because Chocobo’s are wild creatures, they need space to run around and be free. It’s not fair to confine them to a city. Also, I asked daddy a while ago and he said I couldn’t have one.” Ardyn pouted as he got towards the end of his sentence.

He had asked Cor many times and he always got the same answer, a big fat solid: ‘No!’ Ardyn even tried emotional blackmail on the Marshal, saying it would make him extremely happy if they got one, and that he wouldn’t leave Cor to look after it. Cor told him to do one and if he wanted a pet, he could move out, get his own place and then he could have one. Ardyn thought that was a little bit of an overreaction but for some reason or other Cor just hated pets. He didn’t mind animals, all three of them had been to the zoo many times, but Cor just didn’t want a pet and because he didn’t want one they weren’t getting one. Simple.

“If I can’t have one, can we go and see one instead?” Prompto asked sweetly, shuffling closer towards his dada with hope glistening in his eyes.

Ardyn could never deny a wish his son made when he looked at him like that. Ardyn smiled brightly at his son and ruffled his hair. 

“I’ve got a plan, my boy.”

* * *

When Cor got back from work, Ardyn didn’t even give him time to sit down before he suggested that they take Prompto to see the Chocobo’s at Wizz’s ranch. Cor had been working none stop for nearly two weeks now and Ardyn was starting to miss his Marshal. Also, both Prom and Cor were getting upset as they kept missing each other. Prompto wouldn’t be awake when Cor left for work, and when Cor got back it was either Prom’s bedtime or he had been asleep for at least an hour. Ardyn decided that they all needed to spend some time together and going on a holiday was the best solution to that problem.

“I can’t just decide to take time off. I have to fill out forms and ensure that Clarus isn’t snowed under with the council, so he can cover for me.” Cor said as he began walking up the stairs to kiss Prompto goodnight, who had fallen asleep before he got home. Again.

“I am aware of that. But lucky for you, your wonderful dashing husband is the King’s uncle and I have already told Regis that you are having it off.” Ardyn replied as he followed his husband upstairs.

“Yeah? And what did he say?”

“‘Good, as you never have a break, unless you are ill and it is forced upon you.’ For that reason, we are going. That is final My Marshal.”

Cor couldn’t say Ardyn was wrong. He was starting to feel quite exhausted with the long shifts and endless forms and risk assessments he had to fill out. Plus, he was really starting to miss Prom… what the heck, he might as well agree. The three of them didn’t really go away much, it would be a nice change of scenery. 

* * *

The following week, the three of them left Insomnia on a 5-day holiday. Because Cor had to work the day before he left it to Ardyn to pack all their stuff, with the help of little Prompto, and put everything they needed in the car. It wasn’t until the morning that Cor had realised what car they were taking, and he was not too happy about it. Cor’s car was a lot safer than Ardyn’s and it wasn’t so… pink. Also, Cor didn’t really care if his car got scratched or scuffed but if anything happened to Ardyn’s car on their getaway the Marshal was never going to hear the end of it. By that point though, it was too late to take everything out and change cars. Plus, Prom said he wanted to go in dada’s car this time as he never really went in that one often. 

They were soon driving out of Insomnia, with Ardyn driving, Cor sitting in the passenger seat next to him and little Prom was sitting ‘safely’ in the back strapped into his blue Moogle booster seat. 

Ardyn drummed his fingers against the wheel and looked into the mirror to see Prom looking at the barren landscapes of Lucis. Ardyn always made certain he adjusted the mirror so that he could see what was behind him and that Prompto did not see his reflection. He could really do without a crying fit today. “Are you alright in the back, Sunbeam?”

“Yeah.” Prompto smiled looking at the back of his parent’s heads.

Cor turned around to look at Prom and he shook his head. He was not comfortable with this at all. “I told you we should have taken my car. It could rain, and he could catch a cold.”

“Well, My Marshal I need to get the car serviced. It only made sense to take mine as we are traveling that way. Also, it means that you and Prom can see Cid.”

“Yeye! Uncle Cid!” Prompto cheered, raising his hands in the air. He always loved seeing Cid and Cindy. This was already turning out to be a great holiday. 

“Yes, uncle Cid.” Ardyn laughed and looked at Cor who still had that ‘I am really not comfortable’ look on his face. This was meant to be a nice getaway. Not one that would make Cor worry. Ardyn rested his hand on Cor’s knee and made a suggestion to ease his worries. “Darling, if you are that worried you can always ask Mr. Sophiar to put a roof on the old girl.”

“Why can’t you do it?” Cor grumbled.

“Because.”

“You’re scared of him.”

“I am not.”

Cor smirked and turned to look at Prom. “Prom, is dada scared of uncle Cid?”

“Yeah.” Prompto nodded, hiding his face in his toy because he knew Ardyn was not going to be happy he said that.

“See.” Cor laughed.

Ardyn took his hand off of Cor’s knee and lent on the door. “Traitors the pair of you.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing darling.”

* * *

Ardyn wasn’t scared of Cid. (Entirely)

He just didn’t like being shouted at and he didn’t like the way Cid looked at him. He always looked like he was about to butcher him. Ardyn didn’t understand it. The pair of them got on well until he started dating Cor. From there, Cid got a little over protective and had told Ardyn on many occasions that he simply wasn’t good enough for the Marshal. Ardyn completely agreed and after their last meeting… the mechanic was true to his word and turned Ardyn into car fuel for accidentally putting a daemon inside of Cor. Ever since then, Ardyn had been less than willing to talk to Cid. And did whatever he could to avoid having a conversation with him.

Okay, he was scared of him. But he was not going to admit that at all. 

When they pulled into the garage Ardyn was the last to get out of the car. He really did not want to speak to the grease monkey at all.

“That death trap is still workin’ I see.” Cid sniggered as he approached the car.

Ardyn took offence to Cid calling his beautiful car that. “She is not a death trap! Do you really think I would allow either of them in the car if she was?”

“Old-timers stop arguing, Prompto doesn’t want to hear it.” Cor ordered, putting Prom on the ground after getting him out of the car. The little boy was covering his ears, he did not like arguing at all. He especially hated it when his dada and uncle Somnus argued. That was always the worse thing to hear.

Ardyn and Cid stared at each other for a brief moment before Cid turned his attention to Cor and Prompto.

“Hey, Kid. Hello, short stuff.”

“Hello, uncle Cid.” Prompto smiled, uncovering his ears and put his hand up so the man would give him a high five. Like every time they met, Cid always returned the gesture. He never did the same with either the Prince or the little Shield. Only ever with Prom. The kid was just too sweet to disappoint.

Cor smirked and ruffled Prom’s hair before addressing Cid. “Hey, Cid. Ardyn wants to ask a favour of you but he is too scared to do it.”

“What favour are we talkin’ about?” Cid adjusted his hat and glanced over to the daemon, who was currently was standing on the other side of his car.

“We need a roof on his car and a quick once over if that’s okay. We’re taking Prom to see-”

“THE CHOCOBOS!” Prompto shouted, cutting Cor off in mid-sentence, jumping up and down with excitement. 

His reaction was so cute that Cor didn’t care that he shouted, and Cid didn’t seem to mind either. Cid agreed and walked over to the car to ensure that he had written down the correct measurements of the car after the last time he had checked it over for the daemon. As Cid was doing that, Ardyn moved away from his car and stood beside Cor. The Marshal could not help but laugh at Ardyn’s reaction and Prom found it a little funny too. However, instead of laughing he told his daddy off for being mean to his dada. 

After about a minute Cid nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thank you. Ardyn, take Prom to one of the stalls and get him some sweets.” Cor suggested, and Ardyn happily agreed. He picked Prompto up and put the boy on his shoulders and walked over to the furthest stall away from Cor and Cid. Once Cor was certain his husband was out of hearing range he confirmed to Cid what the man already knew. “You terrify him.”

“Good.” Cid laughed and then gestured for Cor to follow him into the garage, so they could have a chat before he got to work.

The work took longer than expected because Ardyn needed four new tires on the car. Luckily, Cid ensured that he always had parts spare for both Regis’s and Ardyn’s car’s, otherwise the three of them would have been stuck there until tomorrow. As for the roof, Cid put an attachable roof on the car, that could be rolled up and placed in the boot if Ardyn really hated it. Which Cor and Cid knew he was going to. Cid also had to fix in some temporary poles going from the front window to the back of the car so that the roof had some support. To ease Cor’s mind further, Cid put two waterproof PVC material rain cover’s on either side of the backseat where the windows would be, so Prom could continue to look at the scenery and not get wet if it rained. 

Cor thanked Cid for the work, paid him and went to the restaurant with Ardyn and Prom to have lunch before they set out again.

* * *

“What’s wrong?” Cor asked as he noticed that Ardyn had been quiet since they had left hammerhead and hadn’t stopped sulking either.

“I don’t like the roof.” Ardyn grumbled, glancing upwards. He was definitely taking this monstrosity off when they got home.

“Well it means Prom won’t get wet and it stops him from chucking things out of the car.”

“He wouldn’t do that anyway.” Ardyn replied, quickly looking in the mirror to see what Prom was doing. And the little boy was sound asleep, hugging his Chocobo doll in one hand and the other had fallen to one side. Why was their son so adorable?

“This is Prompto we are talking about.”

“Yes, a literal angel.”

* * *

Sooner, rather then later Ardyn got bored of the sound of his car and decided to put on the radio. When he turned it on, Cor moaned at the station it was on. Of course, it was on the Classical station, and Ardyn was not going to change it unless Prompto kicked up a fuss. But he was asleep.

However, Cor only had to suffer the torture that was Classical music for half an hour before Prom woke up and their son did not like Ardyn’s taste in music.

“What is this noise?” Prompto yawned, bringing his Chocobo closer to his face as if he was hiding from the awful noise.

“It’s called utter cra- rubbish.” Cor stumbled on his words, remembering that Prompto was far too young to hear his colourful mouth yet.

Ardyn shot Cor a glare of disapproval and answered Prom’s question properly. “Don’t listen to daddy. It’s called Classical Music, Sunbeam.”

“It hurts my ears.” Prompto moaned covering his ears, trying to block out the sound.

“Time to turn it over then.” Cor sighed with relief.

“Can we have happy songs instead?”

“That was a happy song.” Ardyn whined not wanting to change it.

“Just change it Ardyn.”

“You’re going to regret saying that.” Ardyn smirked and turned off the radio and turned on the CD player instead. And to the Marshal’s horror a song worse then the entire genre of Classical Music started playing and Cor regretted ever complaining about Ardyn’s choice in music.

_~I want to ride my Chocobo all day!~_

Prompto’s face lit up with joy and he started to sing along to his favourite song, and to further wind Cor up, Ardyn started to hum along and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat. Cor slumped into the chair and rubbed his eyes in frustration. Why this song? Couldn’t Ardyn pick anything else but this song? Cor then felt Ardyn’s hand rub his knee again and when Cor looked at his immortal husband he had a smug look on his face.

“You are so lucky our son’s in the back of this car.” Cor warned.

“I know.”

* * *

“You just missed the turning to the ranch.” Cor stated, raising an eyebrow at Ardyn. What was he doing now?

“I am aware.”

Prom’s little face dropped with sadness. He lent forward, which he had been told many times this car journey not to do, and tried to reach Ardyn’s shoulder. But his arms were too small and he ended up using his Chocobo doll to hit Ardyn to get his attention.

“Huh? Dada what about the Chocobo’s.” Prompto said in a very sad tone and it made Ardyn feel incredibly guilty about missing the turning. But he had his reasons and he knew Cor would not disagree with him on this front. 

“Sunbeam, I am afraid we spend too much time with uncle Cid. So, we are going to have to go straight to the hotel and go to the ranch tomorrow.”

“Oh okay.” Prompto whined and sunk back into his seat.

He thought he was going to get to see the Chocobo’s today. He was very disappointed, but it was okay because he would get to see them tomorrow. And maybe they could spend the whole day there if he asked really nicely. Yep, he was going to do that before bedtime. Cor turned around and saw the saddened look on his son’s face. It pained him to see that, but Ardyn was right. It was a little too late to do that today and from the direction that Ardyn was driving in, Cor assumed they were headed to Lestallum. Cor reached over and ruffled Prom’s hair and gave him a soft smile.

“Don’t worry Prom. I promise we will see the Chocobo’s tomorrow.” When Cor got a smile back, he faced forward and asked something, that he was dreading the answer too. “What hotel are we staying at?”

“The Leville.”

“Ardyn that is a waste of money.”

“And… we can afford it.” Ardyn rolled his eyes. Cor was still in work mode at the moment. He needed to relax a little, otherwise, this holiday would be pointless on the Marshal’s part.

“You mean, you can afford it.” Cor breathed out. 

“Joint bank account.” Ardyn spoke a little louder to ensure that Prom was listening to what he was saying. “Still, it means we can spend the whole day at the ranch tomorrow, then a day trip to the beach and a day trip to the Rock of Ravatogh.”

At hearing his dada’s word’s Prompto smiled again and cheered. At least now he didn’t have to remember to ask later.

“No to the last one.” Cor said in a serious tone.

“It’s perfectly safe and educational, and there is a market near the site.” Ardyn reassured him.

“It’s an active volcano.”

“What’s a volcano?” Prompto asked before Ardyn could continue bickering with Cor.

“A mountain with smoke and fire coming out of the top. It’s really pretty my little ray of sunshine.”

“Can we go? Please, Daddy?”

Cor was silent for a moment. Why did Ardyn always have to suggest dangerous things and make Prom interested in them? Once Prom was asleep he was going to have some serious words with Ardyn. Cor folded his arms across his chest and looked outside the car, away from Ardyn. “I’ll think about it.”

“That means yes, Sunbeam.”

“If you carry on, we will go to the Disc of Cauthess instead.” Cor warned, knowing fully well Ardyn would not like that idea at all.

“Titan doesn’t like me. Anyway, Somnus’s tomb is there, so if you want to scare our son, let’s go there.”

“Tomb?” Prompto asked in a worried tone. Because of Ardyn’s interest in history, Prom knew exactly what a tomb was and what it was used for. 

“Well done Ardyn.”

Ardyn spent the rest of the car journey explaining that there was nothing to worry about and that uncle Somnus wasn’t dying. Yet, that did nothing to sooth Prom’s worries. As soon as they had checked into the hotel, Cor called Somnus and got him to explain to Prom what the tomb was there for and that he wasn’t going anywhere for a while yet. Which took longer to explain then it needed too.

But once that was out of the way, the three of them settled into their room, ordered food service instead of eating in the restaurant and went to bed. 

Now, it was finally time for their holiday to begin.


	2. CHOCOBOS!!!!!

As soon as the sun started to rise Prompto got out of bed. The door was opened a jar, so with his Chocobo doll in hand he left the room and went over to the room where his parents were sleeping. Their door was open a jar as well, just in case Prompto needed them at all during the night. He opened their door quietly and heard his dada snoring. He snored pretty loud. Sometimes he felt sorry for his daddy having to sleep next to him.

He climbed up onto the bed and crawled up on the side that Cor was sleeping on. He sat on Cor’s chest and smacked him in the face with his toy, whilst shouting.

“Get up! Get up!”

Cor bolted upright when he heard his son’s voice. His parental instinct kicked in and Cor started to fear the worse as to why Prom had come into the room. The Marshal sat up so quickly that Prompto nearly fell off the bed. However, Cor was quick to catch him before he did so and Prom didn’t seem scared at all. In fact, he was laughing.

“Prompto, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Cor asked placing Prom, in between himself and a sleeping Ardyn so their son didn’t nearly off the bed fall again

“Nothing’s wrong. We need to see the Chocobos!” Prompto cheered, raising his hands in the air to express how excited he was.

Cor picked up his phone from the bedside table and let out a groan when he saw what the time was. Cor rubbed his eyes and looked over to Ardyn, who was somehow, still asleep. Fucking Caelum’s. Never wake up for anything. Insomnia could be set ablaze, and Cor was certain not one of the royals would wake up. Despite, the bad sleeping habits Cor was very envious of Ardyn at the moment. All he wanted was an extra half an hour in bed. Looks like that was not going to happen today. 

“It’s six o’clock in the morning. It’s a little early for that kid.”

“But you promised we would see them.”

“And we will. After we get washed, dressed and have breakfast.” Cor let out a yawn and thought it was time for Ardyn to wake up. Cor pushed his shoulder and all Ardyn did was let out a tired whine, before going back to sleep. “Ardyn wake up.” When his demand did nothing to wake him up, Cor turned to Prom. “Jump on him.”

A toothy grin spread across the little boy’s face as he stood up and jumped on Ardyn.

“DADA!”

Ardyn let out a grunt of agony and opened his eyes in pain. When he saw it was Prom, he gave him a tired weak smile and hugged him. “Hello…”

Cor sniggered. “Did he knee you in the…”

“Yes.” Ardyn nodded, carefully picking Prom up and placing him back in the centre of the bed. That really fucking hurt. He breathed through the pain and rolled on his side to face his son and husband. “Sunbeam, you understand that the holidays mean you don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn?”

“I want to see the Chocobo’s though.” Prompto whined jumping up and down on the bed.

Cor and Ardyn looked at each other and they were thinking the same thing. Their son was too frigging adorable!

“Then we better get a move on.” Ardyn smiled, trying his best to ignore the pain that his son had accidentally inflicted on him.

“I’ll get him ready, and we will meet you down in the restaurant for breakfast. Just come down when you are no longer in pain.” Cor laughed and kissed Ardyn on the forehead before ushering Prom into the room that he was sleeping in to get him ready.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

* * *

After breakfast was sorted and Prom’s tummy had been filled, they made their way down to the car park. Cor had Prompto on his shoulders and Ardyn wasn’t walking that far behind them.

Ardyn was walking at a slow pace to admire the beautiful city of Lestallum. He hadn’t been here for a while and it all seemed so different but yet so familiar. It had become a lot busier then what it once was and even at 8 o’clock in the morning, it was already teeming with life. Like the gentleman he was, he greeted as many people as he could. Everyone he spoke to recognised him. Most of the people were delighted to say hello back and there were others… that really weren’t. Since the wall had been pulled back, a hatred for the royal family had started to grow and because Ardyn was one of the King’s main advisor’s, he got a few dirty looks. Not wanting to start a fight, Ardyn picked up the pace to join his family.

When he got to the car, Cor looked troubled and handed him a piece of paper. 

“Ardyn, you got a parking ticket.”

“What?”

Ardyn’s face hardened as he snatched the ticket from Cor. He made sure he had put enough money on the car so that this didn’t happen. Now, not only had he had a painful wake-up call, but he also had to pay for something that he really shouldn’t be. Why did the mornings hate him so much?! 

“It’s okay. Let’s just go to the ranch and deal with this later. Prom really wants to see the Chocobos.” Cor semi-pleaded, hoping their son’s desires would calm him down a little.

But Ardyn didn’t listen. He turned around and scanned the area for the traffic warden. When he got sight of him, the royal let out a tiny growl and marched his way over to the poor sod. Cor really pitied that man right now.

“Excuse me, sir! What in the name of Bahamut’s cock is this!”

Cor quickly opened the car door and gestured for Prom to get in before he heard anything worse come out of Ardyn’s mouth. “Let’s just get you in the car Prom.”

“What’s dada doing?” Prompto asked in a worried tone.

Prom had hardly seen Ardyn get cross and it confused him. His dada always seemed happy and bubbly around him, Noct, Gladio and Iggy. And it was only a piece of paper, why was he shouting at that man?

“Getting into trouble. Serious trouble by the looks of it.”

* * *

Ardyn was fuming and because of that Cor refused to let him drive the car. It was a miracle that Ardyn agreed to let Cor drive his car as no one but he was allowed that privilege. The Marshal, on the other hand, did not see it as such. He had driven the car a few times and every time he did, he hated it. Mainly because Ardyn would start nitpicking at his driving and tell him to watch out for anything that could possibly damage his precious car. But as the royal was in such a foul mood for receiving a parking ticket he chose to be silent. Cor knew it was because Ardyn did not want to snap at either him or Prompto, but it was a silly thing to get upset about. 

“Have you calmed down yet?” Cor asked, side-eyeing his husband so he didn’t get scolded for taking his eyes off the road.

“Yes.” Ardyn pouted with his arms crossed over his chest.

He had not calmed down at all.

Prom didn’t like the fact his dada was still cross and he didn’t really understand the reasoning behind it either. “Don’t be cross dada. It’s only a piece of paper.”

“It’s not the paper that he is cross at, Prom. He is cross because we had to call uncle Somnus to stop the traffic warden from calling the police.”

That statement made the Accused pout harder. Cor tried to call Regis first to prevent that from happening, but Regis was unavailable. Which meant he had to call Somnus instead and Ardyn didn’t want his brother’s help. Ardyn kept his gaze on the road and then said very bluntly at Cor.

“You are driving my car wrong.”

“Ardyn, shut up.”

* * *

As soon as Prompto got out of the car at the ranch his eyes popped out of his head.

He only wanted to see one Chocobo and there was so many of them! There were yellow ones, white ones, grey ones, brown ones, there were even little Chocobo chicks running around in a pen. And Prompto felt like screaming he was so excited. He managed to control himself and held onto Ardyn’s hand while Cor went to talk to a member of staff and pay what they needed to, to ensure that Prompto could ride one. Ardyn picked Prom up and walked over to a Chocobo that looked the calmest. (For Cor’s peace of mind more than anything else, all Chocobos were calm and tame animals) It was a golden one and she looked absolutely beautiful. Ardyn had some trouble containing his excitement too. He hadn’t seen a Chocobo up close in a while now. The animals had always brought a smile to his face and he was so happy they did the same thing to his son. Ardyn read the name tag next to her post and it read: Solana.

A beautiful name for a beautiful bird.

Ardyn pet her on the head and she immediately took a liking to him. All Chocobo’s did. Once Ardyn was satisfied that she was calm enough he allowed Prompto to give her a stroke and it appeared she loved Prom as well.

Who couldn’t love his Sunbeam of a child?

“I think she likes you Prom.”

“I like her too.”

“If that is the case, would you like to ride her?”

“Yeah!” Prompto covered his mouth very quickly for he had said that a little too loud. But Solana didn’t seem to mind at all.

Ardyn told Cor they wanted to ride that one, and once a member of staff had readied her, and told Ardyn and Prom the health and safety regulations they were all set to go. Ardyn got on the bird first and when he was secure, Cor past Prom up to Ardyn, were he sat in between Ardyn and the bird’s neck.

“Ardyn look at me.” Cor warned to get Ardyn’s attention. “Do not go too fast.”

“Understood my darling.”

“Aren’t you coming daddy?” Prom asked.

“No, I am going to stay here and make sure no one hurts dada’s precious car.”

Ardyn placed a hand on his heart and then blew Cor a kiss. “This is why I am never going to stop loving you, My Marshal.”

Gods Ardyn was sappy. Cor went back to using a more serious tone as he locked his eyes with that of his husbands. “Ardyn listen, do not go too fast and do not go jumping off of things with him on that bird.”

“You worry too much.”

“I mean it.”

“Alright.” Ardyn moaned back.

“Just keep each other safe and I will see you in an hour or so.”

“Love you, daddy. Let’s go.” Prom cheered, very eager to get going.

“Okay, hold on tight now.” Ardyn smiled before making the bird go forward.

Cor stood and watched them leave. He was not comfortable with Prompto being on that bird at all. But his son was happy and he had Ardyn with him so he would be perfectly safe. Yes, he would be safe. Cor was going to have to keep telling himself that every five seconds at this rate. He loved being a parent but it was hard not to worry when they did things that were even slightly dangerous. Even if the risk was minimal it was still looming over him.

Cor needed a cup of coffee.

* * *

Prompto giggled as he and Ardyn rode through the forest on Solana. He loved every second of it. Just the experience of rushing through the trees with the wind in his face made him so happy he wished that this would never end. He was enjoying it so much he asked his dada if they could make the bird run faster. Despite what Cor had said, Ardyn gave into his son’s wishes. Ardyn had missed this so much. It took him back to the days when it was just him and his first loyal bird. And if Ardyn didn’t have the responsibility of advising Regis he would gladly take Prompto and Cor and just go traveling, with Chocobo’s as transport, for the rest of his family’s life. Just by the look of pure joy on his son’s face, he knew Prom would not say no to that idea. Cor would. Oh well, guess that could only happen in his dreams.

They soon came to a ledge and Ardyn stopped Solana from going any further. The father and son took in the scenery and it was beautiful. The gorgeous lakes and trees were just breathtaking. Cor was really missing out on something spectacular. 

Wait a second… Cor wasn’t here….

“Prompto… you know daddy said that we couldn’t jump off things?”

“Yeah?” Prom responded, looking up at his dada, knowing he was up to something.

“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t.” Ardyn smiled back.

“Okay!”

Ardyn made Solana take a few steps back so she could get a running start. Cor was going to murder him if he found out.

“Hold on extra tight now.” Ardyn told him and Prompto responded with a nod and he held on tighter to the reins.

Once Ardyn was happy Prompto was holding on and that he wasn’t going to fall off at all, he made Solana run forward. Before they jumped off, Ardyn wrapped an arm around Prom’s middle to ensure he was extra safe. Ardyn was right to grab on to Prom, as the boy suddenly let go and put his hands in the air as they fell through the sky.

“WEEEEEEE!!!” Prompto cheered and giggled all the way down.

Cor was definitely going to murder him. There was no question about that at all.

When they landed on the ground, Ardyn stopped Solana from bolting off and checked to see if Prom was alright and that the fall hadn’t caused him any distress. Lucky for Ardyn, Prompto still had a huge smile on his face. His hair was a little out of place but for once the child didn’t seem to care.

“Fun, huh?” Ardyn asked, trying to put his son's hair back in place for him.

“Again! Again! Again!”

Ardyn was afraid he was going to ask that. All he had to do was make sure Prom did not tell Cor.

* * *

“Shit!”

Cor jumped out of the car and looked at the damage he had done. All he did was close his eyes for a second, and the next thing he knew boiling hot coffee had gone all over him and the car… Ardyn was going to lose his shit.

“He’s going to kill me.”

Ardyn didn’t have many material possessions that he valued, but the ones he did, he would actually kill for if anything happened to them. Like the time Somnus took his hat and threw it down a well. Ardyn threw him after it and Somnus broke a lot of bones in his body, including his neck. His car… the only time Cor had seen Ardyn scream at Cid was when the mechanic accidentally used the wrong shade of pink to touch up the paint. The Marshal had to do something quick so that he wasn’t screamed at or ignored for the rest of the month.

He left the car door open to try and get rid of the smell, no one was going to nick that horror of a car, and hurried into the gift shop to see if they had anything he could use to clean up the mess with. Nothing was on sale so he had to asked the lady at the desk. 

“Sorry to bother you, but you don’t happen to have anything I could clean some coffee up with do you?”

“I might do, sir. Let me check.” She gave him a warm smile and looked under the desk. She then came back up with some wipes, a sponge that was wet and some soap. “Here.”

“Thank you so much.”

Cor took the item’s from her and ran out of the shop and immediately started to scrub the seats. It stunk of coffee, Ardyn was going to smell it, there was no way he was going to get away with this. Ardyn and Prom had been gone for nearly an hour now, they could be back at any moment. That’s it he was no longer going to be called: ‘Cor the Immortal.’ He was going to die. 

“Sir, are you alright?”

Hearing the voice, Cor stood up and wacked his head on the steering wheel. He let out a grunt of pain and looked to see who it was. It was the lady he had spoken to at the desk and she looked concerned. Cor rubbed his head and nodded.

“Yeah, it’s my husband’s car and he has a rule about no food or drink in the car. I didn’t listen and now I see the reason why he made that rule up. He’s going to flip if I can’t get rid of this smell.”

“I am sure it’s fine. He shouldn’t notice.”

“He’s the King’s Uncle. Trust me, he’ll be able to smell it.”

_Fuck Ardyn and his daemonic nose. _Cor thought to himself as he went back to scrubbing the shit out of the seats again. This was bad. So very, very bad. 

“Oh, your Marshal Leonis. I’m Willow. I think I might have some air freshener.” Willow’s voice change from being reassuring to a little alarmed. At least she understood how severe this situation was going to be.

Cor continued wiping down the seats as Willow went back into the shop to get more supplies. She came back with a lemon-scented air freshener and a small portable vacuum cleaner. She gathered if the Marshal didn’t want His Grace to find out what he had done, he might as well clean the car to give a reason why it now stunk of lemons.

“Thank you, so much.” Cor sighed with relief. Maybe Ardyn might not notice and think this as a nice gesture?

He doubted it.

* * *

“Now I really want a Chocobo.” Prompto whined, stroking the soft feather’s on Solana’s neck as they came back into the ranch.

“So, do I. But daddy makes the rules and he said no.” Ardyn rolled his eyes. A little bird running around the garden wouldn’t hurt, surely?

“Well, can we come here again?”

“Most certainly we can.” 

Prompto could not wipe the smile off his face and when he saw Cor again, his smile only got wider. “DADDY!”

“Hello, mate. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! I love Chocobo’s even more now! I need to take a picture!”

“I’ll do that.” Cor said before taking his phone out of his pocket. He took a few pictures of Prom and Ardyn sitting on the Chocobo and once he was certain that Prom had enough, he turned the phone around and handed it to his son, so he could see the pictures. “There we go.”

Ardyn lifted Prom up and handed him back to Cor. When Ardyn got off and handed Solana to a member of staff, he held on to Prom’s hand and poked him on the nose.

“Now, Sunbeam do you want to go to the gift shop and get Charlie a friend?”

“Yes please.”

* * *

“Dada? Is your nose okay?” Prompto wondered as he saw Ardyn’s nose begin to twitch once they started driving again.

Ardyn had felt a little tired after all the excitement he and Prom had had, so he let Cor drive them back to Lestallum. But for some reason all he could smell was lemons. Very strange. He looked at the front of his car, and then he turned around to the back and noticed it was completely spotless.

“Yes, Sunbeam. Darling, did you clean my car?” Ardyn asked, a little wary of the answer.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Can’t I do something nice for you?” Cor grumbled, trying his hardest not to make it too obvious that he had done something wrong.

“Umm…”

* * *

Prompto did not want to go to sleep tonight. When they got back to Lestallum, they went for a walk to tire Prom out and had dinner. Both Cor and Ardyn assumed that he would have just fallen asleep. But no, he wanted to look at all the photo’s his parents had taken. He wanted to call Noctis to tell him what a good time he was having and that he wished that the Prince could be here too. He wanted to bounce up and down on the bed. He wanted to watch cartoons. It was driving Ardyn crazy as he was exhausted and left Cor to deal with the little bundle of energy.

It took another hour to get Prompto to calm down and another half an hour before he fell asleep. Cor left Prom in his room and left the door open a jar before returning back into his and Ardyn’s room.

“Finally, asleep.” Cor said flopping on to the bed.

Ardyn smirked, shuffling closer to Cor so he could snuggle up to him. “I thought he would have been out straight after dinner.”

“I was hoping for that too.”

Ardyn played with Cor’s hair for a while and handed the Marshal a book to help him further wind down. They stayed like that for around 20 minutes before Ardyn very calmly stated.

“Now… what happened to my car?”

“Nothing.” Cor gulped.

“Leonis.”

“Coffee.”

There was no point lying. Cor turned his head and looked at Ardyn and he was not at all amused by his response. The royal stopped playing with his hair and moved away from him shaking his head.

“I have the ‘no food and drink’ rule for that _very_ reason.”

“It’s clean now. Stop whining.”

“Well, I can tell you something, My Marshal. You can have a shower on your own tonight.”


	3. You're So Mean

“Can we go back to the ranch?” Prompto asked as Ardyn put his seatbelt on for him.

Ardyn smiled and poked him on the nose. “Nope! We are going to the beach today. And we aren’t having any food or drink in my car.”

“I got it.” Cor shook his head sitting in the front seat. Could he just let it drop?

Ardyn got into the driver's seat, put on Prom’s favourite CD and happily drove his family out of Lestallum. It was such a beautiful day that he tried to dismantle the roof, but Cor stopped him. Telling him as long as Prompto was in the car he was keeping it on. Maybe they should have taken Cor’s car instead… On the way to the beach, Prompto asked many times if he could have his drink and Ardyn said no because: ‘_of what daddy did yesterday.’_ Cor could tell this was going to be looming over his head for a while. He just hoped Ardyn put a foot out of line soon.

Luckily, for the Marshal, he didn’t have to wait long for that to happen. After the Chocobo song had finished after the 6th time Prompto stopped singing and whined, just wanting a sip of water.

“Dada, you can’t be mad at daddy.”

“Yeah, dada. Stop being mean to me.” Cor laughed shoving Ardyn in the shoulder. It was a good thing they had stopped at a junction otherwise Ardyn might have swerved out into the road.

“No. You said that we weren’t allowed to jump off of things on Solana yesterday and we did.”

Ardyn let out a sheepish laugh and turned to Cor who had the face of Ifrit on him. Ohhh…. He was in so much trouble. The immortal being tapped his fingers on the wheel and tried to think up something clever to get him out of this situation.

“And we went really fast. Can I have my drink considering you broke the rules?”

He loved Prompto more than anything else in this universe, but damn wasn’t he a snitch! His precious baby boy had even told on him before to Regis. That was because Ardyn ‘accidentally’ smashed the King’s favourite collectible cookie jar. (Ardyn was feeling a little spiteful that day) The boy was simply too honest for his own good. And because of that, Ardyn was in trouble with his husband. 

“Shall we agree not to be angry at each other anymore and leave it at that?” Ardyn asked in a hopeful voice.

“Yes.” Cor replied handing Prompto his drink.

_Just you wait until we get home, Ass Hat._

* * *

Cor got Prom out of the car and he had to run after him as Prompto decided to take off like a shot as soon as his feet touched the ground. The little boy was so eager to play on the beach. He wanted to go in the sea, build sandcastles, dig holes in the sand, play hide and seek. He wanted to do everything. But his excitement was halted by his daddy picking him up and placing him on the car bonnet.

“Woah, woah, there Prom. You need sun cream before you go anywhere.” Cor said gesturing for Ardyn to hand him the bottle.

“But it is stinky.” Prompto held his nose.

“Not this one my sunbeam. It smells like bubble gum.” Ardyn smiled placing Prom’s Chocobo hat on his head. It looked as if it was going to be a scorcher today. Also, they had spent a good hour and a half in the car. For some reason or other Cor wanted to go to the next beach down from the one they were right next too. He loved him dearly, but his Marshal was very strange and particular sometimes. 

“I don’t want to smell like bubble gum.”

“Then no beach.” Cor shrugged with a hand full of the bubble gum scented liquid. 

Prompto took in a deep breath, he held out one of his arms and with the other, he covered his nose. Accepting what he had to do. “Okay.”

“You are as dramatic as dada.” Cor could not help but snigger. He put the sun cream on Prom’s arm and shook his head realising who Prom was slowly turning into.

“That’s not a bad thing Prom.” Ardyn sighed, making sure his own hat was securely on his head. The sunlight was starting to sting a bit.

“Tell that to his future partner.”

* * *

Ardyn had placed everything in his armiger before they left the hotel, so all that was left to do was find a quiet spot to relax on. Which was difficult because little Prompto didn’t want to do that. He wanted to run up and down the beach and play in the sand. For that reason, Cor followed him so he didn’t get lost and Ardyn found a quiet place that was shaded by some rocks to rest for the day. With the click of his finger’s, blankets, an umbrella, a cooler and a few buckets and spades dropped onto the sand. He soon arranged everything so it was pleasant enough to relax on and waited for Cor and Prom to appear. Which took about 10 minutes because Prom did not want to sit down. That was until another little boy came up to speak to him. The blonde boy got shy, latched his hand in Cor’s and asked if they could go and find Ardyn.

Prompto was happy to play where Ardyn had decided they would make base.

He started kicking a ball around and kicked it in Cor’s direction. Cor was sat down so he either threw it back so Prom would run after it or roll it back to him when Prom looked a little tired. Prom soon got bored of that game, instead, he waddled to a small stream that was flowing towards the sea and started jumping up and down in it. Cor and Ardyn called him back a few times when he got a little too far away, or when he needed to have a drink. Prom did not get bored of this activity for a while.

Cor took off his jacket and drank a bottle of water from out of the cooler. He looked over to Ardyn who had taken his massive trench coat off. But chose to leave the scarfs on. “Wow. Really, it is boiling and the only thing you are taking off is your coat.”

“Sunlight, remember.”

Ardyn said raising an eyebrow at him. Sometimes Cor forgot the whole daemon issue, and the UV rays were stinging his skin today. It felt like hundreds of little needles were pricking every inch of his skin, despite the fact he was sitting under the umbrella in the shade. Being a daemon had its perks, and other times it was just a nuisance.

“We can go in a shadier area if it is hurting you.” Cor replied, feeling a little guilty he forgot about that.

“No, My Marshal. This is perfect.” Ardyn smiled back before giving Cor a loving kiss.

Cor smiled and turned his head to watch Prom. He was still kicking at the water and giggling to himself like there was no tomorrow. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about him. If Ardyn was hurting due to the sunlight, he wondered how Prom must be feeling. Ardyn was basically completely covered up and Prompto was only wearing some shorts and a t-shirt. But their son didn’t look like he was in any pain….

“Prom seems to be fine.” Cor said, trying to get Ardyn to see if he could sense if Prompto was in any pain, and was just good at covering it up.

Ardyn couldn’t sense anything, but he understood his husband’s concerns. “He is. Despite the fact, he still burns easier than most people.”

“Guess so.”

Ardyn snapped his head in Cor’s direction. Cor seemed too focused than what was good for him at the moment. He kept checking his phone and tapping his foot against the sand in an impatient manner.

“Are you alright?” Ardyn asked shuffling up to Cor.

“Yeah. Keep an eye on him, I am just going to the car to make a call. I’ll be back in a minute.” Cor said getting up and dusting the sand off his clothes.

“Cor, are you sure nothing is wrong?” Ardyn continued to badger him.

“I am fine Ass Hat. I won’t be long.”

_Ummm…. How odd. _

Oh well, Ardyn would get it out of him sooner or later. Cor had been acting weird this morning. He wanted to leave the hotel at a certain time, then he wanted to go to this particular beach and now he was going off somewhere to call someone? Cor was hard to read sometimes. Maybe, Regis wanted him to pick something up. Surely, he would have told him that. This was all very strange indeed.

Ardyn glanced over to where Prom had been playing in the stream and he wasn’t there.

“PROMPTO!”

Ardyn called out standing up, looking all around him to see if he could spot his child. His heart began to race when he couldn’t catch a glimpse of his son. He only looked away for about five minutes, where on Eos could he have gotten too? _You better not have teleported anywhere._ Ardyn prayed as he hurried down the stream where Prom had been playing a moment ago. Because if the boy had decided today that he wanted to be naughty and teleport, Ardyn would not be able to find him. Ardyn quickly jumped up on a rock where the stream bent and a wave of relief hit him.

Prompto was sitting in a little pool, splashing about and laughing without a care in the world. Mini-heart attack over. Ardyn got down off the rock and was ready to tell Prom off for going somewhere without telling either him nor Cor but he stopped himself from doing just that when he saw something moving in Prom’s hands. 

“DADA!” Prom cheered his name upon seeing him, and he raised up the animal he had discovered in the little pool he was sitting in. “What’s this?”

Ardyn shook his head and calmly spoke so that he didn’t startle the not so helpless crab that his son was holding. “That is a crab, Sunbeam. Now, please put him down carefully.”

“Why?” Prom asked, not realising what the crab could do and shook it. Prompto regretted that decision. The crab got hold of his arm in its claws and Prompto started to wail from the surprise attack. “WAAHHHGGG!”

Ardyn phased over to Prom, picked him up and threw the crab back into the pool before it could do any more damage to his precious sunbeam of a son. Ardyn teleported them both back to their resting spot, put a teary Prom on the blankets and checked his arm over.

“You’re okay. You’re not bleeding.” Ardyn hushed him kissing the spot that hurt and giving it a rub to try and calm him down.

“That really hurt.” Prom whimpered, sitting in Ardyn’s lap and hugging him for comfort and protection. He decided he no longer liked crabs.

Ardyn ruffled his hair and gladly hugged him back. “To be honest my darling you shouldn’t have picked it up.”

“Why?”

“Because it is a wild animal. You wouldn’t pick a daemon up, would you?”

“It’s a daemon!” Prompto shouted, curling up further into his dada’s embrace. Visibly scared of what he had just done. The poor child was worried that he would become infected as the animal had given him a pinch on the arm.

“No! Of course, it isn’t. But you have to understand that not all animals are like Chocobos. They’re not all caring and fluffy. Some are a little spiky and some want space.” Ardyn explained. Maybe a daemon wasn’t the best analogy to use?

“Like Uncle Som.”

Ardyn laughed and hugged his son tighter. “Yes, exactly like Uncle Somnus.”

“Where’s daddy?”

“Gone to call someone. We need to put more sun cream on you before you burn my darling. And I need to tell you about the importance of not going where I can’t see you.”

* * *

“Prompto! Daddy’s back!”

Ardyn called Prom away from the stream again. Heavens knows why Prompto was so interested in that patch of water so much.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Prompto cheered as he ran over to his parents. He hung on to Cor’s leg, who hadn’t had a chance to sit down yet, and snuggled him.

“Hey mate. Look what I have for you.” Cor smiled handing Prompto a cardboard tub of ice cream with a spoon on the top of it.

“ICE CREAM!”

Prompto let go off Cor’s leg and greedily took the pot out of his daddy’s hands. Wasting no more time he shoveled the strawberry ice cream into his mouth and hummed at the taste of his favourite flavour. 

“Sit down to eat it okay?” Cor said, also taking a seat next to Ardyn who was obviously more than happy to see him.

Cor was gone a little longer than he had expected to be, but he thought ice cream would have made up for his absence. For Prom it certainly did. The boy was so happy to be getting the frozen treat, and he ignored both his parents as he finished it off. Cor than offered Ardyn the other pot of ice cream that he had brought back with him.

“I am alright My Marshal.” Ardyn smiled, waving his hand.

“I already ate mine and it’s your favourite. Salted Carmel.” 

“You spoil me.” Ardyn smirked taking the ice cream. He was meant to be on a diet.

“Only sometimes.”

* * *

They ate their picnic and for the rest of the afternoon, Prompto decided to play close to his parents, and in the sand. He got his spade and started to dig a hole in the ground. He kept getting annoyed though as the sand would just cave in on itself. He huffed and then proceeded to pile the sand on top of itself instead.

Ardyn was laid down on one of the blankets and questioned what his son was doing. Or rather, hoped to achieve.

“What are you doing Sunbeam?”

“Trying to build a sandcastle. But it keeps falling down.” Prompto sighed. The sand would not cooperate when he dug a hole and now it was being just as unhelpful when he tried to build a sandcastle. All the other children’s sandcastle stood up okay, why wasn’t his?

“Not to worry my darling. It takes practice, building a perfect sandcastle. And anyway, I think yours looks beautiful.”

“Thank you, Dada. Daddy? Can you build a sandcastle with me?” Prompto asked hopefully as he gave Cor puppy dog eyes.

“Yes. But I have a better idea. Do you want to bury dada in the sand and build a sandcastle on him?”

“Yeah!”

Ardyn opened his mouth to protest at the idea, but Prompto had already filled a bucket up with sand and was walking over to him. The joys of getting ganged up on. Ardyn looked at Cor and started to sulk at him. “You’re so mean.”

“Correct. I thought you were used to it by now. Lay on the sand so we can bury you.”

“Who says romance is dead?” Ardyn rolled his eyes and moved from the blanket and on to the sand.

His hair, hat, and clothes were going to get so dirty. No, no. This was going to make Prom happy so Ardyn had to suck it up. It didn’t take too long for the pair to bury him and Prompto only threw sand in his face 3 times, all of which were accidents. Cor on the other hand, tricked him and put sand on his face on purpose. Cor would bend over as if to give him a kiss and instead of that, he quickly shoved sand in his face. Ardyn did not find it funny but Prom did.

Once their work was finished, and every inch of Ardyn was covered save his head, Prompto jumped up and down and laughed at him with glee.

“Dada you look so funny.”

“Thank you, my darling. Cor what are you doing?” Ardyn’s smile changed to a wary one, as he noticed Cor had his phone out.

“Taking a picture and sending it to Regis, Clarus, and Somnus.”

“You are still really mean.”

* * *

After Ardyn had freed himself from the mountain of sand that his lovely family had covered him in, they packed everything up and went for a walk along the beach. It was getting quieter now, so Ardyn took his chances and held onto Cor’s hand as Prom ran ahead. To start with Cor did fight him on the no public affection thing but dropped it when he saw Ardyn’s face saddened. To be honest, his husband’s icy hand was a pleasure to hold. He had been sweating all day because of the heat and Ardyn was making him a little cooler.

Cor looked out to the ocean and saw that the sun was starting to set. “It’s getting late.”

“Time to go then.” Ardyn smiled, rubbing his thumb over Cor’s hand.

“Prom! We’re going now!” Cor raised his voice to Prom, who was a little more than 10 feet away, digging at the sand with his hands.

“But I want to build more sandcastles.” Prom whined, looking towards his parents.

Prom did not want to budge, it would seem. Ardyn and Cor walked over to him and instead of listening, Prom sat down with his arms folded across his chest.

“Next time we come to the beach we can. You look pretty tired mate.” Cor said reaching a hand out for Prom to take. 

Prom shook his head and grunted. “I am not.”

“Oh, is someone having a temper tantrum?” Ardyn teased.

“No.”

“Let’s just get him in the car.” Cor sigh letting go of Ardyn’s hand to pick Prom up.

Prom did not like that. He started to scream that he wanted to stay, and both his dads ignored him. If they left now, they would make it back to Lestallum in time before it got dark. Prompto still didn’t understand the dangers of being beyond the wall. He would one day until then Cor and Ardyn had to suffer Prom having a paddy in the back seat of the car until he wore himself out. Once Prompto had calmed down a bit, Ardyn put some gentle music on to get the little sunbeam to sleep. It worked and he was out in no time.

As luck would have it, they were going to get into Lestallum in time, much to the relief of Cor. He could do with one holiday that did not involve him slicing a daemon a part. But it got him thinking… Prom being part daemon himself hadn’t seen a daemon, other then Ardyn, since he arrived in Insomnia. How would both the little boy and the creatures of the dark react to each other if they did? Ardyn was the best person to ask for that.

“Question. If we were attacked by daemons, would they go after Prom or get confused?”

“They wouldn’t because if you haven’t noticed My Marshal, they tend not to come near you or him because of me.” Ardyn smiled with pride.

It really wouldn’t have mattered if they stayed at the beach a little longer. The daemons did not dare come near him unless he ordered them too. They were a little scared of the being that ruled them. And frankly, there was no way Ardyn would let any of them near his family. It was a little too risky, even with the power he possessed over the little blighters. 

“Fine hypothetically speaking?”

“They’d probably get confused first, then go after him, and then die a horrible rather graphic death.”

“Just checking.” Cor shrugged his shoulder’s happy with that answer. 

* * *

They didn’t bother waking Prompto up. They got him changed into his PJ’s and tucked him into bed for the night.

The pair decided to enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company as they knew Prom would not disturb them and after their intimate session, they laid on the bed with nothing on. It was nice to not have to worry about anything. They all had a lovely day, and despite nearly losing Prom and his temper tantrum on the way home, nothing spoiled it. But there was one thing playing on Ardyn’s mind.

He rolled on his side and stroked Cor’s hip to get his attention. “Are you sure nothing was wrong earlier?”

“Positive.” Cor smiled, rubbing Ardyn’s arm in return.

“Where did you go?”

“To get ice cream.” Cor laughed. But Ardyn gave him a look as if to say ‘I know there is more too it.’ Cor rolled his eyes and kissed Ardyn lovingly. The Marshal grabbed Ardyn’s waist and pushed their bodies closer together. Cor was still very hot and Ardyn’s wonderful icy skin was perfect for cooling him down. He pulled away from the kiss and nuzzled his head in Ardyn’s neck. “It’s a surprise.”

“Oh no don’t do this to me.” Ardyn begged, kissing him on the head. 

“You shouldn’t have asked then.”

“Please tell me.”

“Night Ass Hat.” Cor ended the conversation there and shut his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never knew scented suncream was a thing! The other week I spent the day at my sister's house to see her and my nephew and she put bubble gum scented suncream on him. I was actually blown away by the discovery. I think this is what happens when you start growing up you find the tiniest thing interesting XD


	4. Presents and Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad I had enough time to finish this story today. I hope you all enjoy the last chapter. :)

“Morning dada!” Prompto chirped with a mouth full of cereal as he saw Ardyn approach them in the restaurant.

“Humph.” Ardyn grunted sitting at the table a little aggressively.

Cor rolled his eyes. What the hell had put a bee in his bonnet? Cor even woke up early so Ardyn didn’t get a repeat of what had happened the two previous mornings. Why was he in such a mood? Cor looked at Prom and he looked a little worried by his dada’s entrance.

Cor passed Prom his drink and tried to lessen his son’s worries. “Prom, it appears dada has woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Yes, and I am blaming you.” Ardyn grunted, handing Cor his phone. “I woke up to a text from Reggie.”

Cor shot him a curious glare before glancing down at the phone and he had to hold back a laugh so he didn’t further piss Ardyn off.

** _CXIII Little Toe Rag:_ **

**Glad you are having a good time Uncle. Noctis has asked if he can come and bury you in the sand when you next go on holiday. If I am honest, I am rather offended you never let me do that when I was a child. You are very evil and by the way this is being my screen saver for a very long time XD. **

Okay, now he can see why Ardyn was in a bad mood. Knowing Regis, he was probably laughing his head off as they spoke. The King was such a troll. And by the looks of it Ardyn was not happy at all. Maybe he was wrong to send it. Cor glanced at Prom, he seemed a little less worried and carried on shoveling cereal in his mouth. At least he was entertained while they talked quietly.

“He is only winding you up. Ignore him.”

“Read the next text.”

_Oh great._ Cor thought as he scrolled the screen down a little.

** _CXIII Little Toe Rag:_ **

**Because you never let me do that, Somnus is now my favourite.**

Now Cor could see why Ardyn was so angry. It was no secret that Regis was one of, if not, Ardyn’s favourite nephews. Even if Regis was only teasing it must have hurt his husband a lot to read that.

Cor touched Ardyn’s hand to try and give him comfort. “He loves you both equally.”

“Read the message from Clarus.” Ardyn said removing his hand.

Ardyn was really pissed off at him. Cor tapped on Clarus’s name and it only got worse from there.

** _Flower Power:_ **

**Oooo big bad Adagium Ardyn Leonis got himself taken down by sand and a child, did he? I am definitely selling this picture and story to the media! Gladio said you looked ridiculous by the way. Just wait until you come back to Insomnia. **

Clarus always made things worse. Cor took a deep breath in, he was going to have a word with the Shield when they got back. “He is being a Ass- Grass Mole.” Cor paused and looked at Prom, who didn’t seem fazed by his near slip-up. Phew. The Marshal gave Ardyn his phone back and asked a question he dreaded the answer too. “Somnus hasn’t taunted you, has he?”

“No. That is another reason why I am in a mood. Who knows what the little bugg- has planned.” Ardyn also pulled a face at his near mess up. The pair could do without Prom picking up on swear words.

“Clarus isn’t a mole and Somnus isn’t a bug!” Prompto laughed, completely unaware of his parents choice of words and the true meaning behind them. The little boy climbed on to Ardyn’s lap and pulled at his scarf. “Don’t be grumpy dada. We have one more day of holiday left.”

“I know Sunbeam.” Ardyn smiled ruffling his son’s hair.

“Sorry.” Cor said from across the table, realising how much stress he had caused his husband.

* * *

“We are not going there.” Cor said bluntly, feeling like he was being kidnapped by his own husband.

“Are you driving? No. So yes we are.” Ardyn smiled as he continued to drive towards the Rock of Ravatogh, ignoring Cor.

Ardyn did debate last night about not going there because Cor felt uncomfortable with Prom being so close to the smoke. However, after this morning’s bombardment of texts from his annoying nephew and his git of a Shield, Ardyn no longer cared for Cor’s worries. Prompto seemed very excited about the day and Ardyn hadn’t been there for a while.

“It is dangerous.” Cor replied, getting tired of this back and forth of these pointless words.

“So is riding a Chocobo. So is going to the beach. So is walking across the road. So is…”

“I get it.”

“Stop arguing.” Prompto demanded from the back, in a grumpy voice.

Cor and Ardyn did as they were told and gave each other an uneasy look. Okay, they had overstepped the mark now. 

Ardyn glanced over his shoulder for a second. “Sunbeam we’re not.”

“Sounds like it.” Prompto grumbled putting his face into his Chocobo doll.

He was very worried about his dada today, he didn’t like it when he got sad or cross. He didn’t like it when either of his parents got like this. It was usually uncle Somnus’s fault but today it seemed to be his daddy’s. They were on holiday, and the holidays were meant to be a happy affair. 

“Sorry Prom. We won’t do it anymore.” Cor promised as he turned around to look at his son.

“Thank you.” Prompto smiled back, moving his doll from his face.

To make Prom happy, Cor put on his Chocobo CD and their darling child started to sing the song. Cor didn’t care if that song drove him up the wall, upsetting his son was unacceptable. And he would gladly suffer through the music on repeat to make Prom as happy as he could.

Ardyn hushed his voice and tried to convince Cor that there was nothing to worry about. “If we go, he can take pictures and we don’t technically have to be anywhere near it.”

“What happened to hating the Gods. Ifrit is up there.”

“Was. The Niffs have him remember? Stop your worrying we will be fine. Plus, we can go shopping can’t we Sunbeam?” Ardyn raised his voice in the last part of his sentence.

“Yeah.” Prompto nodded than went back to singing.

“You shouldn’t sound pleased about the Niffs having him.” Cor scolded his husband in a low voice so Prom didn’t hear it.

Ardyn disagreed. He found it ever so funny when the Niffs proudly announced what they had done. Ardyn debated whether writing a well-done letter, as they had made a complete mockery of all Six of them by taking the Infernian. King Mors got wind of it before Ardyn had the chance to and put an end to his uncle’s insane idea. Because of that Somnus told Ardyn that was the best thing that Mors had ever done in his entire reign. Ardyn still found it rather amusing.

Ardyn smirked at Cor and shrugged his shoulders. “They acquired a God. That is something to be admired, no matter who you are.”

* * *

“Wow!” Prompto looked up at the Rock of Ravatogh in amazement.

He was so happy that they had decided to come here. He thought the place was magical and beautiful. Prom was a little confused as to how the smoke was coming out the top of a rock. So he could get a better look at it, Ardyn picked him up and sat him on the sign that gave an inscription of the historical site. Of course, Prompto took as many photos as he could and even got Cor to take a few himself so they could get the best picture.

“See My Marshal. I told you he would find it interesting.” Ardyn smirked as he gestured to how mesmerised Prom was by the very active volcano.

Cor couldn’t deny that Prom was happy and Ardyn had made sure they were upwind of the smoke. Okay, maybe he had had been a little over protective. That was something Cor didn’t get. Ardyn didn’t like it when Prom came and visited him in the Crownsguard barracks, but when he suggested something as dangerous as visiting an active volcano, Ardyn was fine with it. He needed to get his priorities straight.

“Why is it like that?” Prom questioned pointing to the smoke.

Ardyn was more than happy to answer that question, but he was cut off by Cor in mid-sentence. “Well, you see Sunbeam…”

“No. Prompto we will be here all day if dada tells you.”

“But I want to know.” Prompto whined with puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t deprive him of knowledge, my darling.”

Cor had had the luxury of being taught most of his school life by his husband and he wanted to spare Prom the pain of that. Cor used to get so confused with what Ardyn had said. Half of the information he gave him could not be found in any book and Regis and Clarus used to look at him like he had grown three heads when he came out with the ‘wrong’ thing. And because Prompto was attending a public school, it would not be good if Ardyn started to pile on his knowledge onto their boy. Cor did not want Prompto to call the teacher out on being a ‘liar’ for teaching him the wrong things. 

But with the look that Prompto was giving him, Cor couldn’t really refuse that. “Okay, then tell him what children are taught in school. Not the version you and Somnus know.”

“That is the corrected version.” Ardyn defended himself proudly.

“Not according to the school curriculum, it isn’t.”

“Fine.”

* * *

After Ardyn had finished explaining the wrong version of events the three of them went down to the market that was on the site and the place was full. Cor made sure that Prompto held onto both his and Ardyn’s hands so he didn’t get lost. As they walked around many colourful and bright things caught Prom’s eyes. They stopped at a few stalls so that Prom could get a better look and when they came to one particular stall, Ardyn said that Prompto could pick whatever he wanted to take home with him.

And because Prom was getting a present, it made Ardyn’s curiosity spring back to life.

“Now, what’s my surprise?” Ardyn asked, fluttering his eyelids at Cor.

“Not until we get home.”

“We’re not going home until tomorrow.” Ardyn started to moan.

Cor ignored him. “Looks like you are going to have to wait.”

The Marshal glanced down at Prom who had yet another Chocobo doll in his hands and this one was black in colour. Cor thought he should discourage Prom from getting that one as he knew Ardyn would steal it from him in a couple of weeks. But the look of love in Prom’s blue eyes prevented him from doing so, and the Marshal quickly paid for the toy and his son could not be happier. By the look of approval in Ardyn’s eyes, it was clear he was happy too.

Prom’s face turned into a frown. He felt a little sad that Noctis, Gladiolus, and Ignis couldn’t come with him. He had such a fun time and it would have been more enjoyable if they could have come. But he had an idea that would make his friends happy.

Prom tugged at Ardyn’s hand, prompting Ardyn to bend down and give his son his full attention.

“Noct likes blankets. I was wondering if we could get him one.”

“Of course, we can.” Ardyn smiled, standing up and leading Prompto over to a blanket stall. The immortal being rummaged through the sock for a moment and picked up a blanket that had a series of colourful planets on it and showed it to Prom. “What about this one?”

“Nah. He likes dragons at the moment.”

Ardyn felt his entire body twitch upon hearing that. Now that had really set his teeth on edge and he had to put the blanket back, so he didn’t rip a hole in it with his nails. Why did his favourite nephew of all time like DRAGONS!!?? He had to calm down it would not be a good idea if he lost it here. Why did that fucking god have to ruin his holiday? Why?

“When we get home, I am going to change that.” Ardyn said sternly, not looking at Prom so he didn’t see the anger coating his eyes.

“Stop it.” Cor warned, looking around to see if anyone had noticed how odd Ardyn was behaving, or if anyone had heard the words of blasphemy coming out of his mouth. Thankfully no one had.

“No.”

“Prom, pick something else, otherwise dada is going to have a mental breakdown.” Cor suggested quickly.

“Okay…” Prompto nodded and with the help of Cor peered at the layout of the stall. He smiled when he saw a blue blanket with a white ghost wearing a hat imprinted on the fabric. He pointed to that one and turned to Ardyn. “What about this one? He likes video games.”

“Excellent choice. Would you like to pay for it?” Ardyn asked. And when Prom nodded his head, Cor passed Prom over to Ardyn and handed Prom the correct change he would need. Ardyn alerted the woman manning the stall before telling Prom what to do. “Give the nice lady the money.”

“Thank you.” Prompto smiled handing it over.

“You are very welcome, young Prince.” The woman smiled bowing her head at him. 

“Huh? I’m not a prince.” Prompto cocked his head to the side in confusion.

He wasn’t a prince. Well sometimes, the servants at the Citadel would address him and Noct as the little princes but Prom thought they did that to make him happy. Prom still didn’t fully understand the whole family and title thing, but he was certain he was not of ‘royal blood’. Or whatever that meant.

“Don’t worry about it, my dear. Thank you.” Ardyn laughed putting Prom back on the floor. Technically speaking Prom was a prince because he was his son. Then again he wasn’t because he wasn’t blood-related. Ardyn decided to not confuse the poor child with that now.

“If we are getting Noctis something, we need to get Gladio, Ignis, and Iris something too.” Cor said, taking the blanket and doll from Prom, before handing it to Ardyn so he could put it safely in his armiger.

“But of course, it is only fair. I’ll get something for little Iris, and you two can find something for the boys.”

“Yes, your Grace.” Cor gave him a bow of mockery before taking Prom’s hand and leading him to a nearby stall. 

Prom and Cor found a toy sword for Gladio and for Ignis they thought he would be happy with a book. It was good that the child enjoyed reading so much and Cor liked the fact that Prom hung around with Ignis. Maybe he would get him to start reading instead of wanting to go on that game console they had got him for Christmas. When they met up with Ardyn, he showed them the Moogle plush he had picked out for the latest addition to the Amicitia family.

* * *

“We are going home tomorrow Prom. So, bedtime.” Cor ordered as Prom got underneath the covers with his new Chocobo doll and Charlie.

“Can we see the Chocobo’s one last time, please?” Prompto asked as he yawned.

“Yeah, it’s on the way back. But it means we have to get up extra early.”

Prom’s face turned to sorrow upon hearing that. “Oh. We aren’t going then.”

“I just said we could.” Cor said in confusion.

“Dada won’t get up in time.”

Gods Prom had already sussed Ardyn out to a tea. Prom wasn’t wrong either, Ardyn was going to be a nightmare to wake up in the morning. But it was their last day and the entire reason for this trip was that Prom could see the birds. So yes, they were going and Ardyn was just going to have to suffer another early morning.

“He will. I’ll make sure he does. Now let’s go to sleep.”

* * *

“Don’t be grumpy.” Cor said as they drove away from Lestallum the final time.

“I am not grumpy.” Ardyn grunted, changing gear a little too aggressively. He did not want to be woken up that early, but Cor told him that he was going down to check them out of the hotel within the hour so he had to get up, get washed, dressed and load the car before he did that.

“It is going to put a smile on his face.” Cor said, placing a hand on Ardyn’s thigh. 

“He’s still asleep though.”

“I said I would drive.”

Ardyn shook his head as he turned the corner. “You are not driving my baby ever again.”

Now Ardyn was being ridiculous. On the way back from their day trip yesterday, Cor drove and the Marshal had to swerve out of the way of an idiot driver and a branch clipped the side of the car. To start with Ardyn was much more concerned with how Cor and Prom were, but once they got back to the hotel Ardyn examined the damage. Ardyn wanted to find the driver of the other car and butcher them for scratching his car but because he couldn’t do that, he was only slightly blaming Cor for it.

“You can’t even see the scratch.”

“I can.”

“Shut up and drive.” Cor said removing his hand.

* * *

Prompto was happy to be returning to the ranch, but because they had to go home today he wasn’t allowed to ride one of the birds. Instead, he got to sit in the pen with all the little chicks and Wizz said that Prom could adopt one if he wanted.

Prompto’s face lit up with joy and he picked the fluffiest one he could find. Like his doll, the one he picked was called Charlie. He would be given updates in the post on how Charlie was doing and be sent pictures so Prom could watch how he would grow over the years. Because no one could resist how adorable the little sunbeam was, he received another Chocobo doll for free. This was officially the best day of his life.

Not long after that they went back in the car and drove home. The entire journey Prom would not stop talking about their holiday and what a great time he had. And when they pulled up into their driveway, he smiled brightly at his parents.

“Thank you for taking me. I love you both.”

“You are very welcome Sunbeam.” Ardyn said turning off the ignition.

“Can we go there again?”

“On our next holiday sure.” Cor nodded and went to get out of the car but noticed that Ardyn hadn’t moved. He wore an expression as hard as stone and was glaring evilly at their house. That was never a good sign. “Ardyn, what’s wrong?”

“Someone is in the house.”

Ardyn got out the car and went straight through the front door, ignoring whatever Cor was saying. The strange thing was, was that the door was unlocked. Someone better not have forced that door open. He was going to murder whoever thought they could break into his house and get away with it. Ardyn growled and stormed into his living room ready to do whatever he needed to do to get the intruder out and protect his family.

But he was greeted to a cup of tea being forced in front of him and the smug face of his brother.

“Hello, brother.”

“What the fuck are you doing in my house?!” Ardyn roared. Today just got fucking worse.

“Can’t I come around to ask if my brother enjoyed his holiday?”

“This is called breaking an entry.” Ardyn said, hearing Cor get out of the car. Cor must have heard him shout and by the way, he had shouted, assumed it was Somnus who had broken in.

“Founder King.”

“Doesn’t mean you can break into my house.”

Somnus moved away from Ardyn and placed the cup of tea he had made for him on the coffee table. “I can do whatever I want by law. I didn’t break in, Cor gave me a set of keys.”

“UNCLE SOM!”

Prompto cried running in at top speed to give his uncle a hug.

“Hello, buddy. Did you have a good time?” Somnus asked politely, bending down so Prom could have his wish.

Prompto hung on to Somnus for a second longer than the Founder King was comfortable with, but he soon let go and showed him his new Chocobo doll’s. Because Prom was so excited to see Somnus his words came out like lightning. “Yeah, I got some new Chocobo toys, I went on a Chocobo, we went to the volcano, and we went to the beach!”

“I know about the beach.” Somnus fought back a laugh as he stood up and stared Ardyn in the eye.

“Cor! Get him out of my house!” Ardyn grunted walking towards the other end of the living room so he didn’t hit Somnus in front of Prom.

“Somnus don’t annoy him.” Cor begged, rubbing his temple.

Somnus snapped his fingers and after a blue haze lit up the room, he handed Cor an envelope. “I am not, I just thought you would like this. I will see you later okay buddy.”

Somnus tapped Prom on the head and made a swift exit.

“Bye Som.” Prom waved after him.

Cor did not like where this was going. He opened what Somnus had given him and let out a sigh of regret this was not going to end well. He showed Ardyn what it was. It was a framed photo of Ardyn in the sand and Cor knew Ardyn was going to explode.

“Ardyn… don’t get cross.”

“SOMNUS! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!”

Ardyn shouted rushing out of the house to catch up with his brother. 

* * *

Later on that evening, after they had put Prom to bed, Cor and Ardyn were in the kitchen getting a drink before retiring for the night. Before Ardyn, suggested that they make their wake upstairs, Cor placed a wrapped present on the counter.

“There you go.”

“And this is….” Ardyn asked picking it up dreading what it could be. After what today had brought him he did not want to open it.

“Your surprise. Well go on, open it.”

Ardyn’s eyes sparkled and he tore at the paper. He had waited two days for this and now he was finally being able to know what Cor had brought him and when he read the title he only became more frustrated and got a little upset.

_The Kings of Lucis._

“Is this a joke?” Ardyn asked darkly, narrowing his eyes at Cor.

“No. Open it.” Cor ordered.

Deciding that today couldn’t get any worse he did as he was told, and he had to blink when he saw what was on the first page. Because it wasn’t Somnus’s name he saw, it was his. It was there as clear as day: _Ardyn Lucis Caelum, the Healer King of Lucis_. He turned the next page and found Somnus’s name and his title as the Founder King of Lucis. Ardyn had to shake his head and turned to Cor in a little shock. This was beyond treasonous.

And by the look on Cor’s face, he really didn’t care much, and he began to explain where he had got it from. “Despite the fact a lot of people hate the family it was so difficult to find someone who would do that for me. Do not lose it, it is the only copy I had made.”

“Somnus is going to hit the roof.” Ardyn said softly, not knowing what to say for such a meaningful and loving gift.

“I don’t care. Do you like it?”

Ardyn smiled and kissed Cor with all his might. All the stress and frustration of the day suddenly was washed away. He really did not deserve the Marshal at all. “Of course, I love it. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of you, you are the kindest most thoughtful person I know, next to our sunbeam of course. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Cor smiled returning the kiss.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t enjoy each other’s embrace for long as they heard a giggle coming from upstairs. It was a very high pitched squeal. Cor shook his head, Prom was meant to be asleep an hour ago. Cor let go of Ardyn and marched up the stairs ready to tell Prom to get into bed and tell him he was not going to the Citadel and seeing Noct tomorrow for playing with his toys at such a late hour. That was what he assumed he was going to see. When he opened the door he got the shock of his life.

“Look daddy! A doggy!” Prompto clapped as a three-head dog daemon, which was about the same size as Prom, was jumping up and down on his son’s bed. And Prom was only a few feet away from it.

“ARDYN!”

Cor shouted as he ran into the room and grabbed Prompto before anything bad happened to his son. Cor backed out of the room and not a second later Ardyn appeared in front of him.

“Yes?!” 

Ardyn sniffed into the air and a massive smile grew on his face. He recognised that smell. He turned around as fast as he came in and hit his knees to encourage the thing to come towards him.

“Oh, Gods above! Cerbie! Come here boy! I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“What?”

Cor’s mouth opened in shock as he saw the daemon dog run up to Ardyn and start licking his face. Ardyn stroked every single one of it’s heads and then forced it on it’s back to give it’s stomach a rub. Because Cor was so bewildered by the scene in front of him his grip on Prom loosened and he was able to get free from his daddy’s arms. He jumped down and joined his dada in petting the ‘dog’.

“He’s so cute. I love him.” Prompto smiled and it earnt him a lick from one of the dog’s heads.

“Did you hear that Cerbie? Prom called you cute. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.”

“Can we keep him dada. You said no Chocobo. But can we keep Cerbie?”

“We most certainly can.” Ardyn nodded allowing Cerbie to kiss him. Now his day had definitely been turned around.

Upon hearing that Cor broke out of his trance. “It’s a frigging daemon! No, we can’t!”

“Oh calm down. You married the starscourge and have a part daemon son. A little daemon three-headed dog should be the least of your worries by now.”

“So we can keep him!” Prompto asked again, hoping he could finally have a pet.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Yeyeye!” Prompto cheered wrapping his arms around one of the dog's necks. Instead of biting him like Cor expected it too, the thing actually snuggled up to his son and Ardyn didn’t seem to care. His husband just continued to stroke and coo at the daemon. 

Cor didn’t know what the hell he was meant to do now. But the first thing that came to mind was not going to be the right call to make. Still, he was going to do it anyway. “I’m calling your brother.”

* * *

“How did that thing-”

“Cerbie.” Ardyn corrected him as the dog in question lay by his feet.

“Thing. Get in here?” Cor said standing his ground.

“I don’t know. How did you get in here Cerbie? How did you get in here boy?” Ardyn asked in a high pitched tone, forcing the dog to his feet so Ardyn could pet him. When Ardyn felt a pair of eyes staring at him he looked up at Cor and simply asked. “What?”

“Ardyn, daemons can’t get through the wall. So how did he get into Insomnia and then into our house?”

“… Prompto wanted a dog.”

“Don’t say what I think you are going to say.” Cor, sighed hoping that what he was thinking was completely wrong.

“Looks like he can summon daemons too.” 


End file.
